in this episode we talk about a topic that is one of the most highly requested topics I've ever done
on this show every time I've done something about a motorcycle club or a motorcycle builder a lot
of people say what about the Ben Hardy's the sugar bears what about the black Outlaw motorcycle clubs
we're gonna get into all of that on this episode of demons Row TV and oh yeah we ghostin baby
thank you [Music]
big shout to the ghosts and the ghostettes welcome to Demons Row TV the Holy Grail of MC
culture where we cover everything motorcycle and Motorcycle Club involved I'm sose the ghost I'm
your host for the evening and today we're going to talk some black history black Outlaw motorcycle
clubs there's a lot that we have covered on this show and I'm not big on racial you know like I
don't pick a topic out just because it's a certain race or it's a certain Club whatever comes on my
table that you think is a good topic and I think that you're gonna enjoy is what I talk about so
this is a topic that a lot of people have asked me about and I want to give love the low brow Customs
this is the site we're going to review and let's get into this now the first segment we're going to
talk about is Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy member of The Chosen Few MC if you don't know who this bad
mother was he was the guy who designed the bikes ridden by Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper and in the
IC film Easy Rider him and another badass black dude named Ben Hardy built the iconic Captain
America and Billy bikes for the movie Hardy was a very skilled bike builder and built two
Billy bikes and three Captain America bikes being that it was 1969 they got no credit for building
arguably the most famous Choppers in history and it sucks that everything had to be like that at
that time but good thing this generation now we can uplift these Legends like Ben Hardy like Cliff
Vaughs and give them the flowers that they deserve now let's switch it up to the outlaw lifestyle and
let's talk about the Chosen Few MC shout to the chosen few shout the Red Man shout out to
my brother AK solid Bros in that club The Chosen Few Motorcycle Club an important piece of Chopper
slash club culture they were founded in 1959 in Los Angeles when you're talking to outlaw bikers
you automatically think of them crazy white boys doing what a lot of folk wish they could do live
life like you want and F you and your rules well guess what there was some crazy black bikers
who felt the same way and didn't give an f thus was born the black Outlaw Bikers The Chosen Few
became a multi-racial MC with chapters that were all black all white half white and half Mexican
half black and half white all Mexican half Mexican and half Indian a few Asians and one Iranian dude
they were one of the first if not the very first multi-racial one percenter Club rest in peace to
Toby Gene Livingston let's talk about the East Bay dragons MC the East Bay dragons motorcycle
club the baddest of the bad in my opinion of course mainly because they're from the Oakland
and Bay Area originally started as a car club they made the switch to an MC in 1959 due to
harassment from law enforcement long-time friend and Sonny bar just suggested they switch to a
motorcycle club because bikes were more discreet Than Cars easier to maintain and cheaper to work
on in 1959 and even well into the 60s although there were two Harley-Davidson dealerships in
Oakland no dealership in the Bay Area would sell bikes to Black customers wow I didn't know it was
like that as far as like you know buying bikes all the original founding members had to buy
used bikes in order to obtain ownership of one black panthers came to the dragons for ideas and
support during their creation due to the support both organizations have for each other some of
the Black Panthers eventually became members of the East Bay dragons after the Black Panthers
disbanded that's super cool I never knew that most of the black clubs around back then road dressers
and Baggers while the dragons road Choppers for all the Sons of Anarchy fans the Grim bastards
were Loosely based on the East Bay dragons and their relationship with the Hells Angels that
surpassed race initial barriers during the 1960s and 70s to this day they are still in all black
all-male all Harley-Davidson riding motorcycle club let's talk about the legendary Bessie
Stringfield in the 30s and 40s Bessie started tossing a penny on the map of the USA and riding
her motorcycle wherever said Penny landed she rode around all 40 States and traveled the country
around eight times hotels wouldn't rent rooms to black folks let alone a little black woman
riding a Harley probably covered in roadrun she often slept on a motorcycle can you imagine how
gnarly that must have been especially in Middle America Bessie rolled Milwaukee Iron she said all
27 Harley she owned in her lifetime to me a Harley is the only motorcycle ever made she was such a
skilled Rider that she would also do stunt riding in carnival show during World War II she worked
as a civilian dispatch Rider her job was mostly to carry documents between domestic U.S bases
Bessie was married and divorced six times when she divorced her third husband Arthur Springfield he
asked her to keep his last name because he knew that one day Bessie would make that name famous
she moved to Miami in the 1950s and eventually started the Iron Horse Motorcycle Club of course
she felt the hardships of the racial situation at the time but she also felt the hardships of
being a woman at the time disguised as a man best he won a track race but was denied the
prize money after she took off her helmet as she mentioned before she was a stunt Rider she could
get attention from the Press by riding around while standing on the seat of her bike she was
nicknamed The Negro motorcycle Queen and later the motorcycle queen of Miami take a moment to
take all that in and think about how much of a badass best he was this is an insane story like
she had every kind of barrier being a black woman at that time women didn't have the rights at that
time and she's just riding around the country like imagine the stuff she saw and the situations that
she got into she's literally sleeping on her bike that's Legend status right right there
now let's talk about the legendary sugar bear let's talk about a man of Choppers if you're
in the chop motorcycles and haven't heard this name you probably need to start over for those
of you that are just alone for the ride let's talk about sugar bear having long spring of fork fronts
is almost a must at some point there have been dozens of manufacturers of these type of forks
and almost all of them were hoppy sketchy and just plain questionable however there are a few
builders that come to mind who made Springers that are undoubtedly superior to the rest Dick Allen
Denver Mullins Arlen Ness and sugar bear I've personally seen and owned all of these at one
time and the quality truly is mind-blowing bear got into bikes at the tail end of the 60s which
led him to meeting learning from and befriending Ben Hardy one of the masterminds behind the Easy
Rider bikes sugar bear opened his own shop in 1971 in South Central LA they started building
spring forks and lamps up to 18 inch Overstock using solid steel to construct them during the
time when most Springers were made out of tubing he was a mathematician when it came to figure
out rake and Trail which resulted in a front fork that could be ridden with one hand with no bounce
and zero hop something that's usually unheard of with a long Springer he had a few advertisements
throughout the years in numerous magazines but most of his work was done by Word of Mouth Fame
wasn't something that he was seeking he just wanted to make a living doing the thing that
he loved building choppers this is something I envy very much as time went on and the styles
of Choppers changed and evolved sugar bear stayed true to his roots and kept building them his way
this led to more and more business over the years and turned into a family affair his son Little
Bear now worked side by side with him keeping the Legacy going sugar bearing his Choppers and
Infamous spring of front ends have stood the test of time this one right here was just the article
but we're gonna get into everything involved in this culture there's no color barrier when it
comes to Demon's role and any history I just need to be provided with the history because a lot of
people ask me to speak on certain subjects and sometimes the knowledge isn't there the Articles
aren't there so we need more when it comes to that type of stuff but I hope you enjoyed this
and if there's history or ogs of course I always say I love to sit down with the ogs that want to
give knowledge to this younger generation and keep that MC culture ball rolling hit me at
demonsrow@gmail.com if you want to support the row get your rated G for ghostin hats they're
out right now on www.demonsrow.com I got another video where I talk about The Purge is here how we
have to stick together and drop all these beefs it'll be linked above and thank you for tuning in
to Demons RowTV the holy grail and MC culture like subscribe and comment and oh yeah we ghostin baby
[Music] foreign